In Praise of the Doctor
Let’s start with a cliché.
What goes around comes around. There you go.
However I’m not talking about karma, I’m talking about trends. I am absolutely delighted at the return of leggings for example. I spent my teenage years (and a good deal of my twenties ) in the things. For the last two years I have been desperately trying to find a cream pair to go under my favourite green dress so that I can wear it in winter too. I couldn’t find any until now. I’m now spoilt for choice. I have a good old fallback black pair and a black and silver sparkely pair which are ace.
But I’m not going to spend this whole blog talking about clothes like gurl. Today it occurred to me that I’m seriously going to be having a wee eighties moment at the end of the week.
You see my husband’s band, the Lorelei are playing with grebo guru Miles Hunt of the Wonderstuff (above) at the weekend* And not only should I wear the leggings for it, but I should (at least at home when no-one’s looking) try and find my Doctor Marten boots. My darling DMs that were given to me by my mate’s brother when I was 14, and lasted me about 10 years, during which time I must have worn them nearly every day. I went to Uni in them, I went to East and West Germany in them, I went to New Orleans in them, I slept in airports and stations in New York, Belgium and Berlin in them.
I danced to new wave, punk, madchester, hip hop, acid house, rave, grunge and disco in them. Christ, I saw Nirvana and The Smiths in them (twice, both). I spilt beer, vodka, wine, punch, paint, vomit and cider on them. If I reach old age and have great feet and insteps then I owe it to them.
I met my husband in them (he wasn’t in them, I was). I used said wonder footwear to climb a human pyramid at a gig and once reaching the top spotted long haired lovely lead singer looking at me. Reader, I married him. (not in the DMs- Mum would’ve killed me). Now I couldn’t have feasibly climbed that pyramid in a pair of silly stilettoes, could I? Think of the ramifications of him never seeing me on the pyramid. We might never have met! There might not be any Flying Martinis to speak of! Aaaargh! It’s like that Ray Bradbury short story where the guy goes back in time and crushes a butterfly in the stoneage and then when he comes back to the present his entire world is changed!
Do you see how important these boots are?
So leggings might be back but DMs aren’t. I have to find them, I couldn’t have thrown them out. I can’t imagine ever doing that, so they must be in the house somewhere; all neglected like an old favourite dolly languishing under a bed, like in Toy Story.
Now I probably am not going to wear DMs on Sunday as I’m not that sad, but take this as a rallying call: Let’s bring Doctor Martens back!
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*See the Lorelei and Miles Hunt of the Wonderstuff at carriages in Insch on Sunday 13 May at 7.30. Tickets: £10 Advance, £12 on the door
Available from: Hardstone Music
01467 681644
enquiries@hardstonemusic.com
http://www.thelorelei.co.uk/